A re-telling of FE7 with an OC tactician! What a completely original idea! Well, you know what they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Join Vesper and Lyn as they fight their way across Lycia, meeting all your favourite characters along the way. Now with extra Wallace!

Felt like doing this for a while, unoriginal as it is, so here we are. I'd orginally planned for Chapter 1 + 2 to be the same, but I have a habit of making my chapters way too long, so I guess you'll have to stick with this for now. Crits would be appreciated, positive or negative. But mostly positive. Because I enjoy stroking my ego.

Fire Emblem: A Tacticians Tale- Chapter 1

The sun shone down brightly upon the sandy Plains of Sacae. Even the large groups of nomads who dwelled there considered it a very hot day and, considering they lived in what was effectively a desert, you could tell how serious that was. Most had already moved to shadier pastures, in the knowledge that anyone caught in the middle of the plains during this heatwave was pretty much doomed.

This information would've been a source of great irritation for the young man in green robes, currently making his way along the plains. That is, if his sun-addled brain was able to digest words with more than two syllables.

"How can the sun get this friggin' hot?" The man groaned although, due to the lack of saliva in his mouth, it came out more as "Gnuuuuh..."

'If I don't get into the shade soon, I'm gonna be done for.' He thought, finding talking to be too much of an effort. 'It probably won't be too long before I start hallucinating. Maybe that giant unicorn knows something that can help...'

And with that, he collapsed onto the dirt, and everything turned black...

"Wanashbvlar!" The man spluttered, springing back to life.

Much to his surprise, he was no longer in the middle of nowhere and (possibly) not dead either. Instead, he was lying on a mattress, with a blanket over him, in some small circular tent.

'Where am I?' was his first thought, followed closely by 'And why am I naked?' Then followed by 'Owowowow!' as his sunburnt body exploded into pain.

While he was mulling over these important questions, a young, green haired girl entered the tent, carrying a large sword.

'Me naked + Large sword. This can't be good...'

"Relax." The girl smiled, seeing the look of fright on the man's face. "I'm not going to hurt you. You were lucky I came along, or you would've definitely died. You've got nasty burns all over your body, but you should recover in a day or two."

She sat the sword down, and bought a bowl of water over to the man, who suddenly realised how incredibly thirsty he was. "Make sure to drink it slowly or-"

"Qwaalaach!" The man choked, having ignored her advice.

"... Yeah, that..." The girl sighed. "You're not from around here, are you? Not many people head into the equivalent of a desert with no supplies, during a heatwave."

"In my defense, I didn't know there was a heatwave." The man complained. "Anyway, the name's Vesper."

"Vesper?" The girl surpressed a giggle. "That's a bit of a weird name."

"Yeah, Vesper. My teacher gave me the name because I sting like a wasp." Vesper mimed a swift punch, causing his sunburnt arms considerable agony, and sending the girl bursting into laughter. "And apparently, I'm really annoying and hard to get rid of."

'With his skinny physique, he probably couldn't even squash a bee.' The girl thought.

"Anyway, you're one to talk about weird names, Miss..."

"Lyn." The girl answered.

"...Damn, that's pretty normal..."

Lyn burst out laughing uncontrollably again. Vesper attempted to keep a stern face, but eventually Lyn's smiling face got to him, and he started laughing too.

"Anyway, what were you doing out in the middle of the plains?" Lyn asked, wiping back a tear.

"I was heading to meet up with my teacher." Vesper explained. "We were planning to meet up in the Western Isles as part of my tactician training."

"But... if you're from Ilia... and you're heading to the Western Isles..." Lyn was slightly confused. "How did you end up here? Sacae is to the south of Ilia."

"Is it?" Vesper scratched his head. "That would explain quite a lot. I've never particularly been one for Geography."

"You're really a tactician?" Lyn blurted out, before she could help herself. "I thought you had to be somewhat smart to be one!"

...

Lyn was expecting Vesper to be offended so, when she looked up, she was surprised to see an amused twinkle in his eyes.

"Tactician in training." Vesper corrected. "But if you want me to prove it to you..."

His face changed, and he hit her with an ice-cold, analytical stare. Lyn was frozen as his gaze washed over her. She couldn't see the slightest trace of emotion in his face. He was like some souless, terrifying demon. Then, as soon as it had begun, Vesper's gaze stopped and his face returned to its normal, smiling state.

"Where would you like me to start?" He asked. "With your parents? Your father was a nomad chieftain and your mother was from somewhere in... Eastern Lycia. You're already an accomplished swordswoman, however you haven't yet killed anyone. Or..." His gaze darkened. "Should I talk about the bandit attack which left your parents, and most of your tribe, dead?"

Lyn grasped the dagger she had concealed in her clothes. Had she let a bandit spy into her tent? "How-?"

"-Did I know?" Vesper finished, in a cryptic way. "Wasn't that hard to figure out. Anyone can tell, from your face, you're only half nomad, and you have several features suggesting one of your parents is from Lycia. Both this tent, and that sword you just placed down, are pretty high class, suggesting one of your parents must've been a chieftain-class nomad and, since nomad laws state a woman can't be chieftain, your father must've been the nomad and your mother the Lycian. Speaking of that sword, the way you held it while entering definitely suggests you've had training, but you're missing a... look most soldiers have, so I doubt you've been in any large scale combat, or killed anyone."

"And the bandit attack?"

"Look at this tent." Vesper explained. "As I said, it's a higher quality than most nomads can afford, but it's very small and barely decorated. The dirt on the ground suggests it was only placed here a couple of days ago. However, this isn't the sort of tent you'd use for an overnight stay somewhere, and it's built more for staying in mountaneous areas, not in the middle of plains. The fact that you even entered the plains during a heatwave, when you found me, suggests you had to go out there, perhaps to scout a place to set up camp. Also, nomads are a close community, so the fact that you didn't get a doctor to look after me suggests either there isn't one, or they're too busy to deal with me. When you entered, you seemed hesitant to drop your sword, even though I was injured, and the way you immediately went for your dagger shows you've recently become more paranoid. Only conclusion? You were forced out of your mountain homes by someone who killed a lot of your clan. Since there haven't been any large scale army movements recently, to my knowledge, bandits seem the most likely choice."

Lyn was amazed. He'd worked out this much from so little?

"And... my parents?"

"Picture frame." Vesper pointed to a small wooden table where a picture frame lay face down. "It's an old one, and there's definitely a picture inside, but it's deliberately been placed face down. Obvious sign of grief. Even more likely, knowing nomad chieftains, your father would rather die than let bandits attack your clan. And since your mother isn't here grieving, or helping you, I can assume..." He stopped. Lyn had gone strangely silent.

"Are you okay?" He asked, immediately regretting his actions. He just had to go and show off in front of the grieving woman.

"I'm fine." Lyn smiled, although she obviously wasn't. "You're completely right... Mr Tactician. My tribe, the Lorca, were attacked by the Taliver Bandits. Almost all of us were killed, including my parents."

"I'm sorry." Vesper wasn't sure what else to say.

"It's okay."

...

Luckily, the awkward silence was broken by the sound of a bell. Or at least Vesper thought it was lucky. Lyn, on the other hand, thought differently

"The alarm? Bandits!" Lyn hissed, grabbing her sword. "Stay here!"

"Wait!" Vesper yelled, lunging forward. "I can help!"

Lyn looked at the skinny youth, completely sunburnt. "How? I doubt you could even lift a sword, never mind fight with one!"

"I'm a tactician, remember?" Vesper grinned.

"Well we don't have an army to command, so you're not likely to be of much use here." Lyn growled, impatiently. "Most of the warriors were killed in the attack, so it's just me. And we don't have time to come up with a strategy. If I don't hurry, those bandits will slaughter the rest of my tribe!"